O's deny press credentials to radio station

This is basically a pissing match between the team and the owner of this radio station in Baltimore that organized a protest against the organization last year for poor management. It will be interesting to see how it plays out.

PRESS RELEASE
April 9, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

WNST RADIO BEING DENIED PRESS CREDENTIALS BY ORIOLES ON OPENING DAY IN BALTIMORE

Towson-based Sports Media organization and radio station is considering legal action
Baltimore -- WNST-AM 1570, a 5,000-watt sports-talk radio station in Baltimore -- and a staple in Baltimore sports media -- is being denied credentials for the upcoming 2007 Orioles season by the team's ownership and media relations department.

Station owner "Nasty" Nestor Aparicio has repeatedly made attempts to procure press credentials from the team and has continued to be rebuffed.

Aparicio and his staff have covered Baltimore Orioles' baseball since Oriole Park at Camden Yards opened in 1992.

"It's just amazing that every single year, when you think it can't get any worse, it does," Aparicio said in a blog on his website, www.wnst.net. "Are they honestly trying to say that we're not a legitimate media entity, after we've covered every major sporting event in this country for 15 years? Is it a personal attack? Is it an attempt to punish us for being honest in our assessment of the Orioles franchise? I really don't know. But one of our chief complaints as an organization and as fans -- and every employee in my company grew up an Orioles fan -- has been the lack of professionalism and accountability from Peter Angelos and his franchise. This is a prime example.
"Their first home game is hours away and the only communication we've received from the Orioles is that our credential application is 'being reviewed.' "

Aparicio and his staff led more than 2,000 fans into and out of Oriole Park at Camden Yards last September 21st, a "Free The Birds" protest rally designed to bring to light the plight of Orioles fans everywhere and the economic damage being done to the downtown area around the ballpark, which has suffered along with the Orioles' decade-long fall from grace.

"I would hate to think that Mr. Angelos would want to suppress free speech or punish true Orioles fans like myself and my staff at WNST," Aparicio said. "I have loved the Orioles for 38 years and I have 23 years of being honest and accountable in the media. My track record speaks for itself. To deny WNST or any specific person on our staff a press credential is wrong. To repress free speech is wrong."

"We are strongly considering legal action."

WNST Sports Media consists of www.wnst.net and AM-1570, Baltimore's first all-sports radio station, which was founded in 1998.

I will tell you that the unintentional comedy factor of "Nasty" Nestor is off the charts. He began his boycott of going to O's games two years ago because the Bird super-soaked him during a game. I kid you not.

Just so we can get full entertainment value out of this....since Aparicio is the contact on the press release, should we guess that he wrote it himself? Quoting himself and promoting his blog and referring to himself as Nasty Nestor? Is it somehow newsworthy that someone is 'considering' legal action?

You bet he wrote it himself, because nobody in Baltimore considers his amateurish station a "staple in Baltimore sports media.'' This is the same "journalist'' who wears a Ravens jersey to cover the local NFL team. Nice

How'd I miss this cluck?
This whole thing reminds me of Royko's great formulation whenever he was covering a crackpot lawsuit. He would always drop in a line like,
"So-and-so, X's attorney, who never dreamed he'd be doing something like this when he was in law school..."
Cracked me up every time.

I don't mean to sound elitist -- well, yes I do -- but the percentage of non-game broadcasting radio stations I've seen credentialed who actually made any attempt to do work -- get sound from interviews, etc., is about 5 percent.

The vast majority are there to justify getting a freebie pass to the game as "work". Radio stations are also the worst violators of bringing in cronies to the press box and cheering in the press box.